Approved IAR CE Courses

This course examines the principles and real-world dilemmas that shape ethical practice for investment adviser representatives from the original roots of fiduciary duty all the way to today's SEC regulations. Through the use of engaging case studies, readers will experience how conflicts of interest play out in everyday scenarios involving compensation, marketing, and client confidentiality. Whether individuals are refreshing their knowledge or building a stronger ethical foundation, this course connects the "why" behind the rules to the everyday decisions made for clients.

This course addresses one of the most challenging moments in any adviser's career — the phone call from a panicked client when markets are in freefall. By blending behavioral finance insights with practical communication strategies, this course will help IARs understand why clients react the way they do under stress and how to respond in ways that are both empathetic and legally sound. By focusing on important issues from disclosure obligations to managing difficult conversations, this course prepares an IAR to be the calm, credible voice clients need most when markets are volatile.

This course explores what it really takes for investment advisers to communicate with integrity — from crafting RFP responses and presenting performance figures to producing institutional reports and engaging with retirement plan investment committees. Through analysis of the SEC's Marketing Rule and the anti-fraud provisions of the Investment Advisers Act, readers will discover exactly where advisers have gone wrong and what compliant, transparent communication looks like in practice. For any person who wants to build lasting client trust, this course makes the case that honest communication is not just an ethical obligation; it's a competitive edge.

This course is designed to give investment advisers representatives a comprehensive command of closed-end funds (CEFs), showing how they differ from mutual funds and ETFs and why their fixed-capital, exchange-traded structure creates distinct opportunities and risks. From the legal foundations in the Investment Company Act of 1940 to the mechanics of IPO pricing and the premium-discount phenomenon, the course will explore the full life-cycle of a CEF, including specialized vehicles such as interval funds and business development companies. Detailed sections explain leverage, dividend policies, and fee structures, then tie these concepts to real-world market behavior so that IARs can analyze when CEFs trade at attractive discounts or justify persistent premiums. The course closes with an examination of the tax treatment and the suitability of account placement so that CEFs can be positioned suitably within client portfolios.

The course will review the basics of option investments before reviewing complex positions. The course will explain how options can be used to supplement existing stock positons.Specifically, the course will review hedging a long stock position with long put options and alsoteach students how to generate income by selling call options against an existing stock position. Next, the course will describe the strategies of selling uncovered calls and ratio call writing. The strategy, breakeven, gains, and losses of straddles and combinations will also be examined.Different types of spreads will be introduced, with a focus on vertical spreads and how they can beused to speculate, but also limit both gains and losses. The final part of the course covers index options and options on the Volatility Index (VIX).

This course examines various sophisticated investment products — from structured notes and leveraged ETFs to private equity and digital assets — to emphasize what it means for an IAR to recommend them responsibly under a fiduciary standard. The focus goes beyond product mechanics to tackle the real challenges: how to conduct a defensible suitability analysis, what meaningful disclosure actually is, and how firm-level compliance programs and individual accountability work together. Through real enforcement cases and practical case studies, advisers will learn exactly what separates a well-documented recommendation from a potential regulatory problem.

This course examines the important area of employer-sponsored retirement plans, where the decisions made by fiduciaries and their advisers can determine whether millions of workers actually retire with financial security. Areas of focus include the key challenges IARs face when advising plan sponsors, navigating the fiduciary complexities of defined benefit versus defined contribution plans, and managing fee litigation risk. Whether it's selecting default investments, benchmarking fees, or evaluating annuity products for longevity risk, this course delivers the practical knowledge IARs need to guide plan clients with confidence and accountability.

This course is designed to present some basic details regarding digital assets, including theadvantages and disadvantages of this asset class. By providing background information and defining key terms, readers will gain greater insight into the digital asset market. The course will also cover the tax implications of using digital assets and the different positions taken by variousregulators as they apply their rules and regulations on digital assets.

This course will mainly focus on common stock; however, the other forms of equity securities willalso be described. This includes preferred stock rights and warrants. The different methods by which a company can raise capital will be described. Additionally, the rights and privileges ofowning equity securities will be covered.The different classifications of stock will be examined based on size or market capitalization, investment type (e.g., growth, defensive, cyclical), and investment style (e.g., value versus growth).Since equities are such an important part of an investor's portfolio, the different indexes that serveperformance benchmarks will be described. The reader will also be provided with a descriptionof how to formulate investment recommendations.